Link List

The idea of living in a high-rise condo in downtown Tokyo makes for a nice daydream. Between the high cost of housing and the inescapable hustle and bustle of Japan’s capital, though, when it comes time to actually pick a home, many people decide they’d rather live in one of Japan’s other cities, or one of Tokyo’s suburbs at least.

Underlining this trend are the results of a survey by newly formed magazine Aene which asked Japanese housewives which town they’d be happiest living in. Central Tokyo failed to crack the top 10, although the No. 1 pick isn’t too far away from the capital.

As part of the survey, Aene created a set of parameters it dubbed Happy Quality, which evaluated the towns based on their family-friendliness, economic factors, food and health conditions, access to entertainment, and overall convenience of daily life.

Perhaps as a result of focusing on the opinions of people who don’t work outside the home, only five of the top 10 were rated as having local economic conditions above the survey average. On the other hand, all of the highest-rated towns performed extremely well in the other four categories, with study participants showing a particular fondness for areas with parks or other natural environments, good schools, and historical significance.

When asked what specifically was indicative of a convenient place to live, the second-most common response was proximity to a train or subway station, which was given by 28.9% of the women in the study. Far surpassing this, though, was the 47.8% who answered that what they really wanted was a large mall, supermarket, or shopping street.

The reason behind this is a little more complex than just “Women shop a lot,” as shopping is often connected to several of the parameters in Aene’s Happy Quality index. Toshio Noguchi, a professor of marketing at Japan’s prestigious Waseda University, points out that how and when Japanese consumers shop has changed, giving the activity a different role in family dynamics. “Until recently, it was the norm for housewives to do shopping each day at local retailers. Now, though, we’re seeing more families going shopping together at larger centers on the weekend, buying in bulk. Necessary shopping itself has become a form of leisure, and malls are becoming a place where communication within the family happens.”

So, which towns in Japan ranked the highest in the survey? Let’s start with number 10.

10. Hiroshima City (Hiroshima Prefecture)

Respondents were impressed by the kind and friendly attitude of Hiroshima’s citizens. Being the prefectural capital means it’s a developed city, but not nearly as crowded as Tokyo.

9. Nihama (Ehime Prefecture)

The first of two towns on the island of Shikoku to make the list, Nihama offers both job opportunities with local industry and proximity to the Inland Sea and its delicious seafood.

8. Moriya (Ibaraki Prefecture)

Moriya’s Happy Quality was balanced across the five criteria, with special mention given to its modern shopping facilities.

7. Ikoma (Nara Prefecture)

Ikoma is essentially a suburb of Nara City, being just 30 minutes away by train. Its high ranking was due in no small part to its proximity to the many culturally and historically important temples of Japan’s former capital.

6. Fukuoka City (Fukuoka)

One of the most populous cities in the top 10, Fukuoka got a boost from its local food scene which includes delicacies such as spicy cod roe, hot-pot, and pork stock ramen.

5. Matsuyama (Ehime Prefecture)

Back in Ehime again, living in the relatively cozy prefectural capital still provides for a laid-back lifestyle, plus proximity to some of Japan’s best citrus fruit and one of its oldest hot springs, Dogo Onsen.

4. Mitaka City (Tokyo)

Technically still part of Tokyo, Mitaka lies outside the metropolis’ 23 main wards. Easy access to central Tokyo, the lush greenery of Inokashira Park, and the nearby Ghibli Museum all contribute to Mitaka’s elegant and sophisticated vibe.

3. Nishinomiya (Hyogo Prefecture)

Situated between the much larger cities of Kobe and Osaka, Nishinomiya lets residents enjoy the fantastic food of each, including Kobe beef, takoyaki, kushi katsu, and the wonders of Kobe’s Chinatown. It’s also the home of Koshien, Japan’s most storied baseball stadium that hosts both Osaka’s professional team, the Hanshin Tigers, and the country’s twice-annual high school tournament championships. It’s also become a bit of a shopper’s paradise due to its numerous malls.

2. Inagi City (Tokyo)

Lying just outside the 23 wards, Inagi has a shocking amount of greenery if your only image of Tokyo is the Shibuya Scramble intersection. It isn’t limited to parks, either, as the town is also where you’ll find the Otsuka Farm. Life in Inagi isn’t completely bucolic, though, as the town also has its own branches of Costco and Ikea.

1. Fujisawa (Kanagawa Prefecture)

Taking home the top spot is Fujisawa, the coastal city in Kanagawa which includes Enoshima Island. Fujisawa combines the relaxed atmosphere you’d expect from a beach town with extremely convenient public transportation, as a train ride from Enoshima Station to Shinjuku, in the heart of Tokyo, will take you less than 30 minutes. Add in centuries-old temples, colorful local legends about fearsome dragons falling in love with beautiful princesses, and breathtaking sunset views of Mount Fuji, and it’s easy to see why Fujisawa is loved not just by housewives, but by anyone who can appreciate nature, history, or just the relaxing sound of the waves.

A solar cell that resembles a flower is offering a new take on green energy in Japan, where one scientist is searching for renewables that look good.

In a country badly scarred by the tsunami-sparked nuclear disaster at Fukushima three years ago, the hydrangea-inspired solar offering is small beer alongside one of the world’s biggest offshore wind power farms now floating off the country’s east coast.

But Hiroshi Segawa, a professor at University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, is hoping his dye-sensitised solar cell, which meshes floral beauty with cutting-edge technology, will brighten the scene.

Segawa’s Annabelle, named after a type of white hydrangea, is made up of flowery stained glass-like solar cells built into a latticed wood box modelled on traditional Japanese doors.

While the 20-centimeter-wide box might make a pretty addition to a sunroom, it can also store enough energy to charge your smartphone twice.

The leaves generate electricity, which is stored in the flower. As the device charges up the petals turn increasingly blue. But as Annabelle discharges, those blue petals turn white, just like the real-life hydrangea.

“People do not have a very good image about things related to energy, such as nuclear power,” Segawa told AFP.

“Thermal power generation conjures up images of blistering hot dirty coal while solar panels take up a lot of space.

“Even wind power generation has problems with bird strikes and noise, but (Annabelle) doesn’t harm the environment.”

While Segawa is not expecting to topple the dominant silicon-based solar panels, he is hoping the fast-growing sector has room for “enjoyable energy” that adds a splash of color to an otherwise drab industry.

Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, Japan has been pushing to boost the use of alternative energy.

The country’s solar power generation is rapidly growing, but it still only represents a small share of the overall power mix.

In Japan, the share of power generated from renewable sources, excluding hydropower, lags other developed economies at 4.7% of the total, far less than 10.4% in Britain or 20.1% in Germany, according to data from the International Energy Agency.

All of Japan’s nuclear plants were shuttered after the 2011 atomic accident—yanking away a power source that once supplied more than one quarter of the nation’s energy.

Despite Tokyo’s efforts to develop the solar sector, the weather—- particularly a lack of reliable sunlight—is among the factors holding back wider use.

But Segawa says Annabelle works even in weak indoor light.

It also has a myriad of design possibilities. Segawa has already experimented with a cell that looks like French President Francois Hollande and one of the computer-generated Japanese pop star Hatsune Miku.

“You can make solar cells out of animated characters, portraits of real people and lots of other stuff,” he said.

Grand Hyatt Tokyo’s popular disco event CLUB CHIC returns this sultry summer season on Friday Aug 29 for the 21st time, with an evening filled with music and dancing to the greatest ‘70s hits and classics.

Date:
Fri Aug 29Place: Grand Hyatt Tokyo

Enjoy music spinned by renowned DJs Ai Emori and K-CO, along with a special dance lesson by Michael Tsuruoka. The Grand Ballroom will turn into a glitzy disco venue with mirror balls and disco lights filled with over 1500 guests lavishly dressed, for the ultimate dance party atmosphere.

Tickets will be available for ¥15,000 per person with free-flowing beverages while VIP tickets will be on sale for ¥25,000 per person, which come with VIP seating and free-flowing premium beverages including Henri Giraud.

With a purchase of Club Chic tickets, a special price of ¥26,000 for a stay in a Grand Room on the evening of the event will be offered, for guests to stay overnight in a luxurious hotel guestroom. Dance the night away at this dynamic event at Grand Hyatt Tokyo and enjoy a soulful evening.

Sony said Wednesday that global sales of its newest PlayStation have surged past the 10 million mark in less than a year, a record for the Japanese electronics giant.

The PlayStation 4 console, released in November, has been a bright spot for the struggling firm, which launched a sweeping restructuring in a bid to claw its way back to profitability.

The release of the PS4 in the United States and other markets has helped to improve Sony’s fortunes after a disappointing response to the console’s predecessor, the PS3.

Nintendo’s Wii U, launched in late 2012, took more than a year to sell just under six million units.

“The responses we have received for the PS4 system’s unique gameplay experiences… along with its vast game portfolio, has been phenomenal,” Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, said in a statement.

The PS4 is locked in a battle for dominance of the digital home entertainment market with Microsoft’s Xbox One and the Wii U at a time when consoles are under intense pressure to prove their worth in a world where many now play downloadable games on smartphones and tablets.

Sony launched the console in Japan in February, about four months after it debuted in the United States and well behind many other markets.

The company said it had wanted to give developers more time to exploit the potential of the console in the Japanese gaming market, where top-selling titles are often markedly different from popular offerings in the U.S. and Europe.

Software sales for the console have also been strong, with more than 30 million copies sold in retail stores globally and through digital downloads as of this week, the company said.

It added that there were plans to release a slate of major titles, including “Final Fantasy XV” and “Bloodborne,” while it was also adding new system features to expand players’ gaming experience.

Among the new functions was “Share Play”, which would allow users to play games with their friends as if they are in the same room, such as letting a player remotely take over another person’s controls to help them through tricky sections of a game.

Last month, Sony posted a quarterly profit that it attributed largely to strong demand for the PS4 and a sharp decline in the value of the yen.

Sony’s gaming division has emerged as a potential savior for the company, which is struggling to reinvent itself in the digital age, having been left in the dust by nimbler rivals including South Korea’s Samsung.

If you show the "special coupon screen" to the staff you will get the 10%off and the more!
Check the campaign site right now, The last Special sale of
this summer in Japan take the japanize fashion "Cool & cute" back to
the home!

Dates:
August 22 (Friday) 11:00 to 21:00 (Last entry at 20:00)
August 23 (Saturday) 11:00 to 20:00 (Last entry at 19:30)
August 24(Sun) 11:00 to 17:00 (Last entry at 16:30)

· Admission will be closed 30 minutes before shops close. (one hour before on 8/22 (Fri)).
· There is a case to be handed out numbered tickets or entry restrictions due to store situation.
· Please use the public transport for visiting.
· Please note that we can not accept repayment, returned goods, the exchange of the sale product.

About Payment

○ Credit card, VISA · MASTER · JCB · DINERS · AMEX are available.
○ UnionPay card is also available.
○ Gold notes (except for some), such as gift card and certificates, electronic money of Suica · Edy, etc., and debit cards are not available.
○ Payment by the points of each shop is not available.
○ I am sorry it cannot use the tax-free.

As many as 10 people died and many were injured as Typhoon Halong slammed into the Japanese archipelago over the weekend, reports said Monday, with heavy rain still lashing the country’s north.

The storm was moving over the Sea of Japan (East Sea) Monday afternoon, after making landfall on Honshu at the weekend, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The outer bands of the storm were continuing to lash northern Japan with heavy rain as officials warned of landslides, floods and possible tornadoes in the area.

The agency downgraded the typhoon to a tropical storm at 9 a.m. Monday as it headed toward the far eastern coast of Russia.

The storm, as well as heavy rain last week, killed two people and injured 86 across the country, public broadcaster NHK reported.

But the Nikkei newspaper said as many as 10 deaths were linked to the storm.

Among the victims, the body of an Iranian man was found in Ibaraki, northeast of Tokyo, while two Japanese women died in the country’s west, the Nikkei said.

The National Police Agency declined to confirm the number of deaths from the storm, saying it had yet to compile a nationwide total.

The coast guard on Monday resumed searching for a man who went missing apparently while surfing during the storm, off Wakayama in western Japan.

“Police and the coast guard dispatched one rescue boat and two helicopters but we have not found any sign of him,” a police spokesman said.

Local officials on Monday scrambled to clean up in the aftermath of the storm.

In Osaka, Halong forced the cancellation of a major fireworks event on Saturday after the storm washed away 21 launching boats, about half of them carrying unused pyrotechnics, a spokesman for the show told AFP.

He declined to elaborate. But NHK reported that the boats, which were later found stuck down river, were carrying thousands of fireworks.

The Osaka city disaster prevention bureau said four workers also drifted away on the runaway boats, but they were later confirmed to be safe.

On Sunday, violent winds destroyed more than 460 buildings in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, injuring at least two, NHK said.

Weather agency officials were investigating if those winds were actually generated by a tornado.

On Saturday the weather agency had issued its highest warning meaning a threat to life and the risk of massive damage for Mie Prefecture.

The warning, which was lifted Sunday afternoon, said there could be “unprecedented” torrential rain that might trigger massive landslides and floods.

Local authorities issued evacuation advisories to more than 1.6 million people in total, NHK said.

Airline services largely returned to normal on Monday with just a handful of flights cancelled after more than 700 flights were called off during the weekend, just as Japan began its annual “Obon” summer holiday.

A supermoon is seen behind a ferris wheel in Tokyo on Sunday night. The
astronomical event occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth in its
orbit, making it appear much larger and brighter than usual.

A tropical storm was moving out into the Sea of Japan on Sunday night
after lashing the country with rain and wind, leaving one person dead,
more than 50 injured and prompting evacuation alerts for about 1.2
million residents near swollen rivers.

Tropical Storm Halong disrupted land and air traffic as Japan began its annual “Obon” Buddhist holiday week.

Originally a typhoon, Halong was downgraded to a tropical storm as it
approached the southwest coast and made two landfalls - over Shikoku
and Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan. It was on track to exit into the
Sea of Japan from the northern coast near Kyoto late Sunday, and further
lose strength in the next 12 hours.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued the highest alert for heavy rain
in Mie Prefecture in central Japan, prompting two towns to order about
570,000 residents to move away from swollen rivers. Another 600,000
people were advised to evacuate across the country. Some of the
evacuation advisories in western Japan were later lifted as the storm
moved farther north.

In Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, a 78-year-old man was found
dead late Saturday after plunging into a swollen irrigation canal at his
farm.

Japan’s public television NHK said 52 people were injured in the storm.

More than 200 flights were canceled, stranding thousands of
holidaymakers at airports around the country. The rainstorm also flooded
about 330 homes and damaged 70 others in western Japan.

The storm, packing winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, was
expected to dump 30 centimeters of rain in central Japan by Monday
morning. The meteorological agency warned of landslides and floods, and
predicted heavy rain and strong wind in Tokyo and northern Japan through
Monday.

Japanese stocks dropped to a two-month low Friday, leading most Asian markets lower, after U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes in Iraq, casting a pall on equity sentiment and the dollar.

The Nikkei Stock Average fell 3.0% to 14778.37 for its worst daily decline in almost four months. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.1%, Australia's ASX200 closed 1.3% lower, Singapore's Straits Times Index lost 0.8% and India's Sensex was down 1.1%. The Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index managed modest gains, however.

"It may not necessarily be the reintroduction of geopolitical risk per se that has investors rattled, since jitters over Russia and Ukraine and the chance of more military involvement by the U.S. in Iraq have been simmering for some time," said Chris McGuire, chief executive of hedge fund Phalanx Capital Management. "But markets globally don't seem to be able to handle increasing risk well at all lately, and this is perhaps a reaction to seeing U.S. markets show such resilience for so long until very recently."

The dollar fell sharply after Mr. Obama authorized targeted strikes in Iraq to protect the Yazidi minority and U.S. personnel there. At the close in Tokyo, the greenback was changing hands at ¥101.74, against ¥102.37 Thursday. A falling dollar hurts Japanese and other Asian exporters who need to repatriate earnings.

Gold prices rose, while U.S. 10-year Treasury yields dropped to around 2.42% as investors moved to safer assets.

At the end of its two-day policy board meeting, the Bank of Japan cut its views on exports and industrial production, boosting expectations of further easing from the central bank in coming months. But the announcement had far less impact than corporate earnings-related news, much of which triggered adverse share price reactions amid the overall market negativity.

Sumitomo Metal Mining, Mitsubishi Materials, and Nippon Electric Glass all fell at least 6.8% after posting disappointing results after Thursday's close. Shares of heavily weighted Nikon lost 9.4% after the company made a 19% downward revision to its fiscal year consolidated net profit.

Tens of thousands of people were gathering for peace ceremonies in Hiroshima on Wednesday, marking the 69th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city, as anti-nuclear sentiment runs high in Japan.

Bells tolled as ageing survivors, relatives, government officials and foreign delegates observed a moment of silence in the rain at 8:15 am local time (2315 GMT), when the detonation turned the western Japanese city into an inferno.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged people to listen to the voice of survivors as he delivered a speech at a ceremony also attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy

“‘Water, please.’ Voices from the brink of death are still lodged in the memory of a boy who was 15 and a junior high student,” the mayor, referring to the memories of a survivor.

“The pleas were from younger students,” he said, adding the survivor’s grisly description of what he saw: “Their badly burned, grotesquely swollen faces, eyebrows and eyelashes singed off, school uniforms in ragged tatters.”

The mayor noted that many survivors feel profound guilt over living through the attack.

But “people who rarely talked about the past because of their ghastly experiences are now, in old age, starting to open up,” he said.

An American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, in one of the final chapters of World War II. It had killed an estimated 140,000 by December that year.

On August 9, the port city of Nagasaki was also bombed, killing an estimated 70,000 people.

Japan surrendered days later—on August 15, 1945—bringing the war to a close.

Historians have long been at odds over whether the twin attacks brought a speedier end to the war by forcing Japan’s surrender and preventing many more casualties in a planned land invasion.

Last week, US media reported the death of Theodore Van Kirk, the last surviving crewman of the Enola Gay, who passed away aged 93.

A funeral was reportedly scheduled for August 5 in his hometown of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, which would coincide with the Hiroshima anniversary in Japan.

Anti-nuclear sentiment flared in Japan after an earthquake-sparked tsunami left some 19,000 dead or missing and knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011.

None of those deaths were directly attributed to the nuclear crisis. But the reactor meltdowns spread radiation over a large area and forced thousands to leave their homes in the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Despite strong public opposition, Japan’s nuclear watchdog last month said that two atomic reactors were safe enough to switch back on.

The decision marked a big step towards restarting the country’s nuclear plants, which were shut after the disaster, and sparked accusations that the regulator was a puppet of the powerful atomic industry.

NSK Ltd recently demonstrated a prototype of a robot that guides a
person through obstacles at the “Robotics Demo Corner” of
Techno-Frontier 2014 in Tokyo.

The robot, “Lighbot,” helps visually impaired people move in, for
example, hospitals and commercial facilities. When the user walks while
holding the handle of the robot, it recognizes walls and obstacles
around it and guides the user to the destination through obstacles. In a
sense, it is a wise autonomous car for the elderly.

A four-axis optical force sensor developed by NSK is embedded in the
handle. When the user tilts the handle to the desired direction, the
robot starts to move in the direction.

The lower half of the robot’s body incorporates a laser range sensor
that recognizes walls around it and a range image sensor that detects
obstacles located as high as the user’s eye level. When the robot is
about to hit a wall or obstacle, it automatically changes its direction
of movement. For the range image sensor, ASUSTeK Computer Inc’s “Xtion
Pro Live” motion capture device for personal computers is used.

On the front of the robot’s undersurface, there is an infrared range
sensor. Therefore, the robot can detect a large height difference in its
direction of movement such as a step and avoid it.

Moreover, the robot has a navigation function. It estimates its
location based on the traveled distance and a registered map. When the
user selects a destination from pre-registered locations by pressing
buttons, the robot automatically calculates a route from the current
location to the destination and guides the user to the destination with
voice.

The robot has one front wheel and two rear wheels, which are driving
wheels independent from each other. It measures 360 (W) x 450 (D) x
1,050 (H) and weighs 15kg. NSK has been testing the robot at Kanagawa
Rehabilitation Center since January 2014 and will continue the test.

American electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. is teaming up with
Japanese electronics company Panasonic Corp. to build a battery
manufacturing plant in the U.S. expected to create 6,500 jobs.

The companies announced the deal Thursday, but they did not say where
in the U.S. the so-called “gigafactory,” or large-scale plant, will be
built. Tesla has said that Nevada, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and
California are in the running.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed for the $5 billion plant.

The plant will produce cells, modules and packs for Tesla’s electric
vehicles and for the stationary energy storage market, employing 6,500
people by 2020.

Under the agreement, Tesla, based in Palo Alto, California, will
prepare, provide and manage the land and buildings, while Osaka-based
Panasonic will manufacture and supply the lithium-ion battery cells and
invest in equipment.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the factory will help Tesla reduce its
battery costs by 30 percent. Tesla needs cheaper batteries in order to
produce its mass-market Model 3, an electric car it’s developing that
would cost around $30,000. Tesla hopes to have the Model 3 on the road
by 2017. The company’s only current vehicle, the Model S sedan, starts
at $70,000.

“The Gigafactory represents a fundamental change in the way
large-scale battery production can be realized,” said Tesla Chief
Technical Officer and co-founder JB Straubel, referring to the cost
reductions.

Sales of zero-emission electric vehicles account for less than 1
percent of the global auto market. But worries about global warming and
more stringent emissions regulations in many countries are expected to
boost sales of electric and other green vehicles.

Yoshihiko Yamada, executive vice president of Panasonic, said the planned factory will help the electric vehicle market grow.

Panasonic, which has ceded much of its strength in consumer
electronics to competitors, is putting more focus on businesses that
serve other industries, including batteries.

It remains powerful in Japan and some overseas markets in consumer
products such as refrigerators, washing machines and batteries for
gadgets.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.